Ellen DeGeneres Reveals Campaigning Disney*Pixar for Dory Sequel Was Joke: 'Joke Became A Reality'
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Published: Thursday, 16 June 2016 17:02
- Written by Ethan Falk
Move over Nemo, there’s a new fish in town! Pixar is ready to make another splash when FINDING DORY hits theaters this Friday. The sequel comes out thirteen years after FINDING NEMO won it’s Academy Award and changed the way we look at creatures under the sea. CineMovie attended a recent press event for the film, and caught up with the stars of the film. Ellen Degeneres, the voice of Dory, did what she does best--making us all laugh hysterically. Ellen didn’t hold back as she talked about her participation in making this sequel a reality, her take on the possible lesbian couple in the film, and the advice she’d give to the six year old version of herself.
Ellen had been campaigning for a sequel to FINDING NEMO for the last thirteen years, using her talk show consistently as a platform. The comedian was thrilled to finally get the call that it was in the works, but was even more surprised when she discovered that the film revolved around her character Dory.
“I just want to say, I am responsible for every penny that this film makes,” Ellen joked. "I wasn’t campaigning to have a sequel for Dory, I was just campaigning for a sequel to a great movie. Then when it didn’t happen for the first 5 or 6 years, I decided to just make a joke of it. Then the joke became a reality and it became about Dory’s journey.”
Director Andrew Stanton addressed the reasons at the press conference as to why FINDING DORY took years to make.
"The truth is, I was never expecting to go back. Four years with fish is a long time to work on a movie. I thought Nemo was a closed little circuit, a nice finished little picture and we moved on. The brain’s an interesting thing. I watched the movie again because I hadn’t watched it in years, since 2011 where we got to see the 3D version and I walked out very worried about Dory. I couldn’t stop thinking about how she needed closure."
Producer Lindsey Collins says she too was feeling like Dory's story was open eneded.
"I think as a writer and a filmmaker I thought, 'How can we have left her incomplete?' It started bugging us and we kept it to ourselves for a while and then we felt like we really wanted to do it. We went to John Lasseter saying, 'We have this idea.'"
The highlight of the press event was when a member of the media awkwardly began her question for Ellen with, “I told my sister yesterday I was coming to this press conference and I wanted to tell you, that she’s in love with you… She’s straight, but in love with you.” Ellen humorously responded with, “I’ve dated them before.' ”
The actress/comedian has been a huge icon for the LGBT community and Pixar may be following suit as there’s recently been a lot of buzz about a possible lesbian couple in the film. After keeping an eye out for that scene during a screening, Ellen’s come to the conclusion it may just be a woman with a bad short haircut.
“I don’t know that there is. I didn’t hear anything about it until I heard this rumor. It appears there are two women; one woman has a very bad short haircut, which I find offensive that that’s the definition of a gay women. Then how dare you. Just because someone has a short, bad haircut, doesn’t mean she’s gay,” laughed Degeneres.
According to Ellen, she didn’t have to do any extensive research for her role. She says there was no need to look at an aquarium, because she knows what fish look like. She also reminded us that fish need to be in water to survive. Jokes aside, Ellen explained that she cares about the environment and stresses the importance of protecting our oceans, fishes, and coral reefs.
"It’s a beautiful world we know little about. I think there are all kind of answers, cures, and things we can learn.”
FINDING DORY is a story about family. It’s also a story about dealing with time, and doing what we couldn’t do in the past. Ellen described to CineMovie that as you get older you become wiser and start looking at life in a completely different way. She says that if she had the chance to give advice to the six-year-old version of herself, she’d tell her that life is filled with surprises-- sometimes good, sometimes bad.
“They’re all good because even the bad ones get you ready for something else. I think we’re all made up of different things. I would tell that six-year-old to take everything in and embrace the bad with the good. Just keep swimming.”
“That’s a beautiful answer. I have a different thought. In this day, if a strange man talks to a six year old it only leads to trouble, laughed Albert Brooks.”
FINDING DORY swims into theaters Friday, June 17th.